RAD Boulder: Bringing Nutritious Food to the Athlete in All of Us

If you’re involved in the Boulder endurance community, there’s a good chance you have eaten RAD food, and we are not just talking about really delicious grub. RAD, short for Real Athlete Diets, is a local small business providing nutritious athlete meals locally and across the globe.

In a recent interview with the founder and owner of RAD, Kelly Newlon, she stated “I am a chef and I feed athletes.” While that might sound overly simplistic, in a nutshell, this is her business.

Founded based on a love of the endurance community coupled with extensive expertise and credentials in the culinary world, RAD is a staple in the Boulder and greater Front Range endurance community. Whether you’re attending a group run at Runners Roost, or volunteering at a local Colorado trail race, it is not uncommon to see Kelly’s smiling face and taste her scrumptious creations.

In addition to working with pro athletes in the endurance community, RAD has worked with brands such as National Geographic, Patagonia, and Adidas, as well as the United Nations Environmental Program.

Kelly, along with her husband Morgan, founded RAD in 2014. At the time, Kelly was teaching at a culinary school in Boulder and had more free time than she’d had when she worked full-time in the restaurant industry. Friends in the community started asking her to feed them for key training cycles, races, and events in sports ranging from trail running to cycling to swimming. There came a point when she realized she could not sustainably feed these friends while also working her day job. That is when a light bulb went off: she loved feeding athletes, so why not make that into a business?

She asked her husband Morgan to be her business partner and they were off and running. Like a true endurance athlete, Morgan loves saying things are “rad” and thus the company’s name came naturally. They would call it “Real Athlete Diets” or “RAD” for short. The logo design came from a sketch Morgan drew on a napkin at the Boulder restaurant Oak at Fourteenth, a staple in fine American dining located on Boulder’s famous Pearl St. Even their logo origin story is a testament to their humble beginnings and local roots in our beloved town.

Morgan went to work on logistics and bookings while Kelly focused on what she does best; creating incredible food to fuel athletes’ lives. While the company started as a meal service for athletes in the Boulder area, it has evolved into more of a catering and events business. Now on their 10th anniversary,

Kelly just returned from a trip to Europe to support and run the length of the Seine River in Paris to help improve water quality in France. Kelly said she loves traveling with athletes, teams, and brands because it “gives the opportunity to make a difference in their nutrition because you get to work with them for so many meals.”

Besides a love for fueling athletes and the endurance community, the Newlons are dedicated to two big things when it comes to RAD—supporting local and working on environmentally focused projects.

Boulder is not only home to RAD but also their lifeblood. The community here has been and continues to be their biggest supporter, partner, and friend. Whether it be fueling a local pro athlete, providing food for a retail store event, or buying ingredients from local farmers, Boulder and RAD are deeply intertwined. “We would be nothing without Boulder, CO in the Front Range.”

Kelly holds an AOS in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America and a BA in Business from Purdue University, National Sports Medicine (Sports Nutrition Levels 1, 2, and 3).

Follow RAD on Instagram: @radboulder

For booking inquiries email: [email protected]